The Origins of European Integration. The Federalist Ideas and the ECSC

At the early stages of European integration one of the main driving forces of this process was Federalist movement. Federalism is the most elusive of the traditional EI theories. It is hard to define it n the context of the development of the EU. On one hand, it is based on a view that Europe should become a federal entity – the United States of Europe (USE). On the other hand, there is no theory or program of how exactly to achieve this goal. Both the goal and the means are very vague. In contrast to other traditional theories its relevance cannot be empirically tested.
The most important aspect of a federal system is that it recognizes that there are different types of political issues which need different types of institution to deal with them. Some affect only a local area; others are more widespread in their scope. The institutions of government should reflect this. The idea that government should be based solely on strong central institutions is old-fashioned and out-of-date.…